FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, October 28, 2016

Brownsville Woman Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison for
Stabbing Boyfriend Following Argument

Victim Died of Stab Wound to Heart

Acting Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that a Brownsville woman has been sentenced to 15 years in state prison for fatally stabbing her live-in boyfriend in the heart after opening her apartment door for him while armed with a knife following an argument.

Acting District Attorney Gonzalez said, “A domestic dispute was needlessly escalated when this defendant chose to kill a man she once cared for. We, in Brooklyn, take seriously all forms of intimate partner violence and I am committed to holding all offenders accountable.”

The Acting District Attorney identified the defendant as Latrina Crocker, 48, of Brownsville, Brooklyn. She was sentenced today by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Ruth Shillingford to 15 years in prison and five years’ post-release supervision following her conviction on September 29, 2016 of first-degree manslaughter after a jury trial.

The Acting District Attorney said that, according to trial testimony, on February 23, 2014, at approximately 1:50 a.m., the defendant and the victim, Michael Artist, 52, were engaged in a verbal argument inside their shared apartment. As the dispute ended, the victim left the apartment returning a short while later requesting that the defendant open the apartment door. The defendant opened the door with a knife in her hand, continued to argue, and then stabbed the victim in the arm and chest. Afterwards, the defendant dragged the victim’s body into the hallway before calling 911.

The victim died as a result of a stab wound to the heart, according the Office of the Medical Examiner.

During the investigation, the defendant admitted to stabbing the victim and informed police officers that she threw the murder weapon out of her apartment window. The knife was recovered from that location and DNA analysis confirmed evidence of the victim’s blood on the recovered knife.

The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Joan Erskine and Assistant District Attorney Jorge Sastoque, of the District Attorney’s Domestic Violence Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Michelle Kaminsky, Chief.